'The Monk and the Gun': A look at culture clash in Bhutan's democratic transition - review

Imagine a kingdom whose citizens loved and believed in their monarch so fervently that they didn’t want democracy. The idea of opposing parties and political debate was so foreign to their peaceful kingdom that they found it repugnant to introduce such divisive discourse.

You’d think this was a fairy tale, right? Or, could it be a true story that took place thousands of years ago?

But the story of The Monk and the Gun, which opened in theaters in Israel on Thursday, dramatizes a transition to democracy in Bhutan in 2006. It’s the second feature film by Pawo Choyning Dorji, who received an Oscar nod and worldwide acclaim for his first film, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.

The Monk and the Gun is a political satire with a deep meaning, but the spiritual message behind the story sneaks up on you, or rather, you understand and embrace it gradually, just the way the Bhutanese do the electoral process. Dorji’s gift, and the reason that his movies speak to a wide audience far from his homeland, is that he brings the viewer into Bhutan as an outsider, showcasing everything that is beautiful about the lifestyle there while including, with complete honesty, the isolation and inconveniences that, by Western standards, are annoying at best and infuriating at worst.

Explaining democracy in Bhutan

The plot concerns the upcoming mock elections that are meant to demonstrate and explain democracy to the Bhutanese citizens, many of whom understand as little about that word as most of us would about advanced quantum physics theorems.

The movie weaves together the stories of several characters, among them Tashi (Tandin Wangchuck), a monk in a rural village; a family there whose lives are changed by the upcoming elections; an election official from the city; and a gun collector from abroad.

The beloved lama of the village (Kelsang Choejey) asks Tashi to bring him two guns before the next full moon, which happens to be the day the elections are being held, telling him that he needs the guns to “set it right.” Like many religious authorities, the lama isn’t big on specifics, but from his words, it seems as if he is asking for guns to stop the elections by force. Whatever the reason behind the request, Tashi takes it seriously, although the entire country of Bhutan probably has fewer firearms than a gas station in Texas.

At the same time, a glamorous outsider Tshering (Pemo Zangmo Sherpa) from the city arrives to make sure the mock elections proceed correctly. She instructs a local official, Tshomo (Deki Lhamo), to create fake political parties. The Blue Party stands for freedom and equality; yellow represents conservation; and red is for economic development, all of which are abstract and unimportant concepts to most of the populace. Bhutan has an overarching goal called Gross National Happiness – a theme that was part of Dorji’s previous film, Lunana – and Tshering instructs the villagers to vote in the mock elections for the party they think will bring them the most happiness. However, no one cares about the colors or the slogans associated with the parties, and the officials divide the citizens and instruct them to argue with each other about the slogans. While rancorous political arguments are second nature to most people around the world, this kind of discourse here represents an incivility thatiis anathema to the citizens. An old woman wonders why they are being ordered to be rude and tells the officials, “This isn’t who we are.”

But maybe, as the film suggests, this is who they will become as the process continues. Tshomo’s husband and mother have started getting into the spirit of the democratic process, but they have also stopped speaking because they favor different parties. Just like in Lunana, the child actors are the standouts in the cast, and in this movie, Tshomo’s daughter Yuphel (Yuphel Lhendup Selden) gives a magical performance as a creative kid who just wants to write and draw.

As the film progresses, it seems more villagers are coming around. While the film gently mocks their fascination with Western pop culture – they call Coke “black water,” and every TV in every café seems to be showing ads for the new, very gun-oriented James Bond film – Tashi seems amused by it all as he continues in his quest to find a gun for the lama. In the film’s most contrived plot point, an American gun collector, Ron Coleman (Harry Einhorn) – whose name is clearly a reference to Ronald Colman, the movie star who played in Lost Horizon, the 1937 film about a plane that crashes in the mythical mountain kingdom of Shangri-La – has come to the village searching for a Civil War-era rifle that somehow ended up there. His guide, Benji (Tandin Sonam), frantically searches the countryside for the weapon because he needs the money from the commission to get treatment for his sick wife in the city.

Dorji, who now lives in Taiwan, is the first Bhutanese director, and it’s no coincidence that his mentor, as a Buddhist and filmmaker, is Khyentse Norbu. Norbu has made several beautiful films, among them The Cup, a drama about exiled Tibetan monks and their young students who find a way to watch the World Cup, and Travelers and Magicians, a movie about a young Bhutanese man who is drawn to modernity.

This story of one village’s rocky road to democracy ends with a twist that will make everything that has happened before even more meaningful. To quote E. M. Forster, you may still agree with the slogan, “Two cheers for democracy,” but after you see this film, you will likely be more aware of the noise and discord surrounding the democratic process. The movie not only celebrates the beauty of the traditional culture, which is disappearing as villagers increasingly rely on television and the Internet for their daily needs, but it does so without being preachy, and it may lead you to question some of your assumptions.